Fugitive in teen's death turns self in

Published 4:00 am, Monday, July 13, 1998

1998-07-13 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A fugitive in the investigation into the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old girl surrendered to San Francisco police Monday morning.

Michael Negron, 23, was taken into custody on the steps of the Hall of Justice, after he surrendered to homicide investigators in the company of his attorney, Stewart Hanlon.

"He's scared but he feels confident that he is not responsible for his friend's death," said Hanlon.

Negron was the driver of a car in which Sheila Detoy was fatally shot by a San Francisco police officer on May 13.

Detoy's death became a high-profile case after complaints by Bay Area PoliceWatch the case was being mishandled.

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The car Detoy was riding had been fleeing a Park Merced apartment complex where police had tried to arrest Raymondo Cox, 21, on drug charges. Cox jumped into the car.

Two undercover officers, Gregory Breslin and Michael Moran, said they fired in self-defense when Negron tried to run them over. Breslin fired the fatal shot through a side window, hitting Detoy in the side of the head.

Cox was arrested several days later but Negron remained at large until Monday. Detoy was not a suspect in any crime nor was she the focus of the police action that day.

District Attorney's spokesman John Shanley said Hanlon contacted his office to make the surrender arrangements.

Negron was booked on counts of homicide, carjacking, felony hit-and-run and assault with a deadly weapon.

Hanlon would not say where his client had been since May, but said Negron contacted him last week after learning of police reports that Hanlon alleges "show the wrong person's been charged."

At least two witnesses have since come forward, disputing the officers' versions of the shooting, according to Van Jones, executive director of Bay Area PoliceWatch.

One, 25-year-old Winde Toney, said officers who fired at the car were never in the vehicle's path or in danger of being hit.

"Michael was influenced by this woman who came forward as a witness," Hanlon said. "He believed there was an independent witness."

Hanlon described Negron as a "young man who's not been in serious trouble before. He has two young children. We told him, you can't spend your life running. He was really afraid that if police caught him, he'd be killed." &lt;

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